Pentagon considers soldiers POWs

NORFOLK, Virginia (CNN) -- President Clinton said Thursday that Serb forces had "no basis" for capturing three U.S. soldiers, and warned that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosovic and his government would be held responsible for their safety.

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said the United States considers the soldiers captured by Yugoslavia to be prisoners of war, and asserted that they are covered by the Geneva Conventions.

"We all know that three Army infantrymen were seized as they were carrying out a peacekeeping mission in Macedonia," Clinton told a gathering of military families at Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia.

"There was absolutely no basis for them to be taken. There was no basis for them to be held. There is certainly no basis for them to be tried," Clinton said, in an apparent reference to a Yugoslav report that the three men would have to appear in a military court.

"President Milosevic should make no mistake, the United States takes care of its own," Clinton said to rousing applause.

He said that NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia should continue until the objectives of the campaign are met -- "to restore Kosovars to their homes with security and self government."

The president said that the Balkans were a crucial area and that history justified U.S. involvement in the conflict.

"Remember that we fought two World Wars in Europe," Clinton said. "Remember that the prosperity and peace of the people in Europe is important to the future of the children in this room."

NATO and U.S. officials at first denied reports by
Serb authorities that the three men were captured in
Serb territory, saying they were seized about three
miles (five kilometers) from the border in Macedonia.

Ramirez, Stone and Gonzales are part of peace keeping forces in Macedonia

Later, however, NATO and U.S. military officials said
the details of their capture were unclear.

The soldiers, who were part of an international
peacekeeping force in Macedonia, were reportedly on a
routine patrol at Macedonia's border with Yugoslavia
when they radioed that they were under fire.

"They were involved in a firefight and felt they were
surrounded," said Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Whether they escaped
from that and were fleeing and went in the wrong
direction, we don't know."

A senior White House official told CNN that the United
States has relayed through Sweden its demands that
Yugoslavia treat the captured soldiers humanely and
allow the International Committee of the Red Cross or
other medical personnel to visit the men immediately.

Ramirez, 24, is from Los Angeles; Stone, 25, is from
Smiths Creek, Michigan; and Gonzales, 21, is from
Huntsville, Texas. Stone is married and has one child.

"I just hope he comes home safely," an uncle of
Ramirez said in San Antonio.

But Belgrade officials later said they do not consider the
men prisoners of war, because Yugoslavia did not start the
conflict and NATO has not declared war on the nation.

The Convention, however, covers prisoners of any armed
conflict.

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red
Cross should be allowed to visit the captured men under the
terms of the Convention, said IRC President Louise Doswald
Beck.

"I cannot tell you when such a visit would take place, but I
can tell you it should take place," Beck said.

The Convention requires that prisoners of an armed conflict
be treated humanely and that they be visited by the IRC to
confirm their health and safety. The convention does not,
however, specify when an IRC visit should take place, Beck
said.

"What we do when we visit is ensure that their treatment is
in accordance with the convention," she said.

Beck said the bruises on the faces of two of the captured men
did not necessarily indicate a violation of the Geneva
Convention.

"It depends, of course, on how they got such bruises," she
said, explaining that if they were injured during their
capture and not afterward it might not be a violation.

The Serb television broadcast of the three men, which showed
them in their camouflage uniforms after their capture, was
also not a clear violation of the Convention, Beck said.

"The convention says they must be protected against insults
and public curiosity," she said.

Correspondents Bill Hemmer, John King and Alessio
Vinci contributed to this report.